一传十,十传百

一傳十,十傳百
yīchuánshí,shíchuánbǎi
idiom

Meanings

  1. 1 to spread like wildfire
  2. 2 (of news) to be passed on rapidly from one to many

Examples

HSK 5
Zhè tiáo xiāoxi yī chuán shí, shí chuán bǎi, hěnkuài quáncūn dōu zhīdàole.
The news spread one to ten, ten to a hundred - soon the whole village knew.
HSK 7-9
Hǎo kǒubēi yī chuán shí, shí chuán bǎi, diàn lǐ de kèrén yuèláiyuè duō.
Good word of mouth spreads from one to ten to a hundred - the shop has more and more customers.

Tips

history
Recorded in 宋·陶穀 (Táo Gǔ)'s 《清异录·丧葬》 ('Records of the Pure and Unusual'): '一传十,十传百,展转无穷' - passing from one to ten, ten to a hundred, on and on without end. Originally described how disease spread; later generalized to any kind of news or rumor.
usage
Works for both good news (positive word of mouth) and bad (rumors, gossip, scandals). The structure is the meaning - geometric multiplication.

Stroke Order

一 yī
传 chuán
十 shí
百 bǎi